Looks like the Aviary is finally ready for its closeup. Grant Achatz made the announcement via twitter that the cocktail lounge will open at 6 p.m. tomorrow. Line up now, people; the Aviary does not take reservations. more ›

Last week, Our Town's food cognoscenti was stunned at the news that Ryan Poli was leaving Perennial to helm the kitchen at the soon-to-open Tavernita, where he hopes to pursue his passion for Spanish cuisine. This led to speculation as to whom would replace Poli at the Lincoln Park eatery, spurred in part by BOKA Restaurant Group owner Kevin Boehm's hints that the chef was a "celebrity." more ›

The Cubs named Keith Moreland to replace the late Ron Santo as color analyst for their radio broadcast team today. Moreland's first game with play-by-play man Pat Hughes will be the team's first spring training game Feb. 27 in Mesa, AZ. more ›

The Tribune's Greg Kot, citing reliable concert industry sources, reports that Eminem, Muse and Foo Fighters are among the headliners for Lollapalooza 2011. Other artists slated for the bill for the Aug. 5-7 festival, according to Kot, Lykke Li, Best Coast, Girl Talk and Crystal Castles. more ›

Just wanted to drop in a line and let you all know that we are aware of the problems with comments not loading and with the site timing out when you try to log in to comment. It seems to be a network-wide problem that the Gothamist tech crew is working to fix as soon as they can. We do apologize for the inconvenience. more ›

Chicago News Co-op's Dan Mihalopoulos has quickly become a go-to for the latest City Hall news. Mihalopoulos reports that 45th Ward Alderman Patrick Levar, who's currently battling prostate cancer, will not seek a new term next year. LeVar becomes the ninth alderman to announce he's leaving City Council. more ›

Late breaking news from the Michelin Guide that the restaurants that earned stars in the upcoming Chicago edition are being announced tomorrow. more ›

The wide open field of Mayoral candidates narrowed today when Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced he would not run for mayor. Dart cited family commitments as the reason he was not running, but Dan Mihalopoulos, reporting for Early and Often, writes that Dart was faced with the grim reality that any money he could raise for a mayoral campaign would pale in comparison to the money pipeline Rahm Emanuel will have at his disposal. Mihalopoulos's source said Dart's consultants, Joe Trippi and Tom Lindenfeld, couldn't find a scenario where Dart could raise even half as much as the war chest predicted for Emanuel. more ›

Dan Mihalopoulos at Chicago News Coop reports that Congressman Luis Gutierrez will not run for Mayor. Gutierrez made the announcement to supporters at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and also called other prospective candidates to inform them of his decision. more ›

Gaztro-Wagon's Matt Maroni still isn't able to cook in his food truck for a long while, but he'll at long last be putting rubber to asphalt starting Friday. Right now Maroni will be keeping close to his Edgewater storefront to stock the truck with fresh naanwiches and plantain chips every two hours, but Gaztro-Wagon stalkers can keep tabs on the truck's whereabouts on the Gaztro-Wagon website or via text message. more ›

The last time we had a meetup with you readers, we said that we enjoyed it so much we were going to schedule them on a regular basis. That was back in December. more ›

Alinea's Grant Achatz yesterday listed his favorite places to eat when he isn't in the kitchen on Gridskipper. Achatz listed Kith & Kin, The Drawing Room, The Bristol, Schwa, and TAC Thai (where he recommended ordering off the second menu). "These are the places that I crave all week, and where you'll most likely find me come Monday," Achatz wrote. more ›

Back in the early days of this-little-website-that-could we used to make it a practice of actually trying to meet our readers at a pre-arranged location to have some drinks, have a good time away from the flat-screen glow, get to know each other and (most important) thank you for choosing to spend a portion of your day reading Chicagoist. As you can see from this Flickr set, these "Reader Happy Hours" were very fun. more ›

In anticipation to its proposed mid-November opening, the Metramarket at 131 N. Clinton announced an additional 16 vendors to the 20 already onboard today. We've included the full list after the jump. [Inbox] more ›

His Elective Majesty and the Illinois Restaurant Association trotted out some of the city's best chefs and sommeliers yesterday to announce the second annual Chicago Gourmet festival, taking place September 26-27. Reader reporter Julia Thiel noted that the IRA is looking to atone for last year's inaugural edition, which was heavy on the wine and spirits. And that's an understatement. more ›

The French Pastry School keeps adding world champion chefs to its staff. Two weeks ago it was En-Ming Hsu. Yesterday they announced that Dimitri Fayard of Vanille Patisserie will teach the French cakes and tarts portion of the school's 24-week "L'Art de la Pâtisserie" program beginning in January. more ›

In a series of minor news announcements yesterday, some of the city's dirty laundry was hung out to air. Although criticized for not being independent enough, the new Office of Professional Standards cleared it's first legislative hurdle on Monday, passing the City Council’s Police Committee. OPS would go further than just investigating incidents where a firearm is discharged. The new director would have broader powers to subpoena and be free to investigate allegations of verbal... more ›

We’re not feeling bad about missing Coachella or Bonnaroo or Virgin or any of the other music festivals going on this year, because Chicago continues to be ground zero for ass-kicking musical fun in the summer sun. Continental, open barely a year and already the all-night hangout for hipsters all over the city (full disclosure: we spin there occasionally) is leveraging some of the goodwill they’ve formed with local DJs and bands to benefit a... more ›

Today’s your last chance to visit ARTropolis. It’s “Student Day” at Art Chicago, where students, professors, and professionals discuss the basics of an arts career. A pass admitting two people to five fairs is $15. The Illinois Bureau of Tourism has announced its Seven Wonders of Illinois, the top regional attractions selected by popular vote. Cubs fans hit the polls early and often, naming Wrigley Field Chicago’s top attraction. Wilmette’s gorgeous Baha'i Temple represents... more ›

The rumors had been swirling about who else would play Friday night at the Pitchfork Music Festival and those rumors turned out to be true for Slint and GZA joining up with Sonic Youth to play a full album. We never heard a peep about Saturday’s headliner of Yoko Ono. Love her or hate her, for a myriad of reasons, John Lennon’s widow is quite the accomplishment for Pitchfork’s Fest in July. Ono is more... more ›

The League of Chicago Theaters wants you to get out of the house and see more shows, but you don’t have to get off your duff to get tickets. This afternoon, the League of Chicago Theaters launches Hot Tix Online, a service that makes purchasing half-priced tickets only slightly more complicated than reading this post. For the past few months, they’ve made a few shows available for online purchase and are now expanding options for those of us who can’t easily get downtown or to Skokie. more ›

Chicagoist admits that we're salivating over the announcement of the Apple iPhone as much as anyone, but as we discussed last week, we have some doubts about it too. After playing that guessing game once, however, we've decided to reserve further judgment until it's released to the public in June, when people not named Jobs have actually held an iPhone in their hands and put it through its paces. This hasn't stopped the hype machine... more ›

When we were young, we were told to stand up for what we believe in. We would be rewarded with a sense of self, a sense of purpose. Mayor Daley, Aldermen Howard Brookins Jr. (21st), Shirley Coleman (16th), Anthony Beale (9th), Dorothy Tillman (3rd), and Arenda Troutman (20th) stood up for what they believed in by blocking the big box ordinance. Shirley Coleman voted for the ordinance before she voted against it (we've always wanted to put that in a post). Their claim was that so-called big box stores are a necessity, especially in areas where goods are not easily accessible. more ›

"You like taking pictures", the man asked, as we set to the task of chronicling this week's "cheap eats." "Yes, sir", we answered. "You with the city?" "No, sir." "You with the building commission?" "No, sir." "Then why are you taking pictures?" "Because I like to take pictures of places that serve good food. You serve good food here?" The man smiled and answered, "Yes, sir. I do" The man is Agustin Bahena, whose... more ›

Several members of the Chicagoist staff are proud graduates of the Chicago Public Schools system, K-12, the whole 9 yards. We also dream of some day being super wealthy so the Tribune’s look at private donations to CPS really hits home. Private grants are up to a total of $23 million last year from $2 million five years ago. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation even gave $9 million! We wonder if they count... more ›

After all the drama last night, the morning commute is not looking good. We recommend looking for alternate routes, if possible. Even though the Blue line will be running, it will be at reduced levels and we're sure that it will be busy and there will be a lot of waiting. Maybe we're being pessamistic, but that's just us. We're also assuming the #56 bus will be crammed. Another alternate route is to take a Pink Line/Ashland bus combo. Here are the Blue Line details from the CTA site: more ›

If bars were ranked on a four-star scale, Five Star would get three big gold ones. Located at 1427 W. Chicago, Five Star is a relatively new addition to the neighborhood. Opened in May, the spot already draws a trendy, but laid-back crowd. The place is casual enough to wear jeans and Chuck Taylors, but upscale enough to show up in an after-work suit and tie and fit right in. The window-lined front wall provided... more ›

To paraphrase the advertising slogan of a certain local periodical, if you didn’t know the CTA made some major changes to its service today, it’s not their fault. more ›

In its largest single grant ever awarded to a local school district, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given 21 million buckeroos to the Chicago Public Schools system. What for? The grant is to set up a more challenging curriculum in high school English, math, and science so that kids will be able to better prepare for college. Also, teachers will get better training. Woot!! The foundation money is a big part of the... more ›

Attention music snobs: if your parents have been after you to come out to the ‘burbs for a visit, may we suggest the third week of March? The final roster for South by Southwest’s music conference is out, and since most of your favorite bands will be out of town at that time, Chicagoist thinks it’ll be a good time to bring home some laundry. The full list of Chicago bands is here. We noticed... more ›